Council challenged when it comes to creating a policy that will
protect Gilroy’s neighborhood beauty
Gilroy – A year after council approved a controversial housing project for stately, tree-lined Miller Avenue, and two months after Councilman Russ Valiquette called for a policy to safeguard “neighborhoods with character,” officials have yet to put a single concrete idea on paper.
City leaders are finding it’s not so easy to protect neighborhoods that hold a special place in the hearts of Gilroyans, in part because the very qualities that make areas unique are hard to define.
“We do have ordinances that (govern) the aesthetics of a neighborhood, but I want something more spelled out,” Valiquette said. “I think there needs to be more guidelines for staff so when somebody does come in with a project, they’ll know what they can do. Maybe it will be more red tape, but there will be more definition.”
But Valiquette couldn’t say precisely what the policy should include, and during a Historic Heritage Committee meeting Thursday afternoon, other officials had few ideas.
“A historic protection district wouldn’t work here,” City Planner Cydney Casper said. Such districts typically protect the exterior of specific homes, rather than laying out design guidelines for new construction in an entire neighborhood.
Charm in the traditional core of the city is often defined less by the style of housing than the overall effect of streets such as Carmel and Princevalle, where homes lie farther back from property lines along expansive, tree-lined boulevards. The effect is most pronounced on Miller Avenue, where large elms form a canopy leading up to the First Street corridor.
The area became the focal point of a major development battle in 2005, when city leaders approved the joining of two parcels for an effort to replace two homes with six houses. Residents argued the development would set a precedent for the rest of the street. The narrow majority of council that voted for the project said it would blend with a gas station and apartment complex to the north.
The debate sparked calls for a protective district, though the effort fizzled out soon after council elections last November. Valiquette revived the subject this summer over a less quaint neighborhood on Gurries Drive, just north of First Street. Developer Chris Cote has proposed razing half the block on the north side of the street to make way for a gated community of three-story, solar-powered homes.
Valiquette agrees the crime-ridden neighborhood needs a facelift, but he questions if three-story homes will blend in with the area.
“If you go across the street, you have a couple of duplexes, then to the north an entire New York block of single story, detached single family residences,” Valiquette said.
Current zoning regulations allow three-story homes in the area and at the moment, Cote does not plan to scale back the project. The project will bring a much-needed makeover to Gurries Drive, Cote has said, though he agrees that Miller Avenue and other streets in the historic core need protection.
Officials on Thursday mentioned the possibility of a conservation district for such areas, alluding to open space and large trees as worthy of protection. Officials plan to explore how Palo Alto and other nearby cities have preserved the character of neighborhoods, and they expect a draft policy by January.
“But the first thing we have to do is decide what it is we want to conserve. What’s important to us?” Cote asked. “A certain feeling, a certain something special that you really can’t quite put your finger on, because every neighborhood’s different. We’re going to have to define it at some point.”
